Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 9:39 am Post subject: Do you see us going back to the drawing board at Wide Out?

Not exactly impressed by the play at wide receiver outside of Blackmon. Its going to be hard here when the regular season starts and the league finds out this kid can play, and they start shading coverage to his side and doubling him. Who is going to pick up the slack its going to be another long season unless someone else steps up. I think we will probably be back to trying to find another player outside of Blackmon who can step up and make the coverage honest.

Porter had an injury, a bad attitude and had never produced. Not sure they can be spoken of in the same breath.

And no, it's not time to panic after three preseason games._________________GopherWrestler knows his way around a sig...
"We're not trying to win the AFC South, we're trying to own the AFC South." - Gus Bradley

I think you're being a little harsh on the rest of the wrs. Something that stands out to me, is that guys are getting open. There were some missed opportunities in the Ravens game, but at least there were opportunities. Last season, it seemed like every wr was always blanketed by defenders and that definitely doesn't appear to be the case so far this preseason. I'm less concerned with drops, the occasional off target throw or missed reads than I would be with guys just not getting open. What I take from our offense so far this year is that Mularkey's offense is going to produce more opportunities for our passing game, that Blackmon is who we thought he was (as a player...still worried about him off the field), and that some of the excuses for Blaine's poor performances last season were valid. I don't like seeing us struggle in the redzone, but it was the Ravens...they aren't exactly scrubs.

It's something that i mentioned earlier in the offseason, and it was largely scoffed at. Obviously our WR group has improved, but for me, the question is really how much has it improved, and if that's enough.

Blackmon has looked good on the field, and is obviously expected to be the key piece moving forward. He has the potential to be that for sure, but as more of a 'grind it out' possession receiver. There's nothing wrong with that, and our offense needed that badly, but i think we're still going to need to find another very good WR to complement Blackmon. IMO, we still need that extremely dynamic, gamebreaking, field-stretching, home-run threat type receiver opposite Blackmon.

Robinson is essentially the right type of receiver to fit the bill, but i'm just not sure he's good enough and consistent enough. We really need a #1b type to complement Blackmon as the #1a guy, not an inconsistent #2/3ish guy like Robinson. If we're not going to have an elite all-around #1WR, that's perfectly workable, but i think it means we'll need to bring in a second borderline #1WR of a different type, if we're going to build a truly dangerous passing game.

For me, Thomas (when he hasn't quit on plays ) is a very serviceable #3 slot guy, as long as the top of the depth chart is strong enough. And Shorts has showed signs of developing into a useful #4 guy. But i do still think that we're going to need to continue to build depth there, and more than that, i think we're going to need to continue to build the top of the depth chart. It's about getting people to the right point on the depth chart and balancing things. Ie. If we have a lower end #1, we're going to want a very high end #2 to balance that out. It's workable, and there are some pieces in place already, so it's not really 'back to the drawing board'. But it does still look like it will need some improvement.

The thing that i worry about with Robinson, with his performance in Dallas, he showed flashes of being something more...but a lot of that performance and production was tied up in improvisation. The rapport he seemed to develop with Romo when plays broke down seemed to be a big part of his arsenal. To me, that's not really the most practical and applicable skillset in this Mularkey offense.

We'll see though, maybe Robinson will settle in and really be the fit we need there, but colour me skeptical on that at this point.

iPwnJoined: 10 Oct 2009Posts: 49919Location: The Great State of Chicago

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:34 pm Post subject:

Even if Robinson fails, we only need one WR. Blackmon looks like a true #1 or #2, Shorts and Thomas are good #3 and #4 options (and could go either way), Robiskie looks to be a solid 5, Elliot is a good jar on the shelf. Plus Lewis will be a good option as well.

Even if Robinson fails, we only need one WR. Blackmon looks like a true #1 or #2, Shorts and Thomas are good #3 and #4 options (and could go either way), Robiskie looks to be a solid 5, Elliot is a good jar on the shelf. Plus Lewis will be a good option as well.

So back to the drawing board? No.

couldnt of said it any better.
Agrreeed 100% no way were back to the drawing board_________________

Lets remember what the drawing board was...it was what last year looked like. Add Blackmon already and the drawing board is a distance memory just bc he is 1 competent receiver when we had none_________________